01.12.11

“Try as you might, you can’t walk in a straight line without a visible guide point, like the Sun or a star. You might think you’re walking straight, but as NPR’s Robert Krulwich reports, a map of your route would reveal you are doomed to walk in circles.”

05.08.09

“A video put together by Chris Ware for our spring 2009 event “This American Life — Live!” — in which Ira Glass hosts an actual episode of the radio program, performed onstage by some of our favorite contributors. Dan Savage, Starlee Kine, and Mike Birbiglia told stories; David Rakoff and Dave Hill conducted a ‘special investigation. Plus, additional visuals by Arthur Jones, and a very special appearance by Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

The song in this video is “Eugene” by Andrew Bird. Animation by John Kuramoto.”

03.05.08

Well, in what I honestly have to say is one of the more extreme cases of downright egregious malpractice on American soil, the Endoscopy Center of Nevada says as many as 40,000 patients may have been exposed to Hepatitis C and even possibly HIV. The clinic is currently in the process of issuing letters to these patients acknowledging the exposure. Apparently the practice of reusing syringes by removing and replacing the needles while keeping the same plunger is the culprit behind the outbreak. The procedure was ongoing for possibly as long as 4 years, exposing thousands of people to other patients blood. The reason for this gross oversight? To save money of course. The question that obviously arises is how many other clinics have engaged in similar practices? You can read more about it in the Las Vegas Sun and listen to an NPR interview here. I usually reserve news like this for the rolling sideblog but this story was just too appalling to keep of the central feed. The story struck close to home for me since I contracted Hepatitis A (the least damaging strain) from food while traveling in Brazil about a year and a half ago. It knocked me out of commission for about a month, and I had to go to the emergency room for the first time in my adult life. If Hepatitis A can make you that sick, I could only imagine how angry someone would be if exposed to Hepatitis C in order to save a few pennies on the dollar.